It was her 70th birthday. She was supposed to be having a good time, but the police took that away from her and violated her rights in the process.
When the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office showed up looking for her grandson, she refused them entry. What they did next was simply brutal.
Barbara Pinkney was tased - not once, not twice, but THREE times by the police after they forcibly shoved her to the ground. The disturbing incident was all caught on camera. You can hear her scream in agony as children cry in confusion.
After being arrested, Barbara’s now taking action.
Her lawyers have made it clear that the way events unfolded violated her civil rights. Officers claim she was interfering, but they had an arrest warrant, not a search warrant, which brings awareness to this issue:
A Florida statute allows police to enter someone’s home WITHOUT a search warrant if they believe a suspect is present! This just isn’t right. Too many Black people have died after police entered their homes.
Though officers maintain that she was resisting, Barbara fortunately has the support of her community. The activist group, Answer Suncoast, who’ve been calling out the racist nature of this terrible situation, even organized a march in her support.
Pinkney has made it clear that if officers had treated her differently, she would have let them in. But the police chose racism, and then chose to abuse this elderly woman. Now she has to fight an unnecessary injustice.